The Amazon Echo smart speaker has been available in the United States since mid-2015, but only became available in Europe in the fall of 2016.

Its primary purpose is to play music from the Amazon library, but thanks to its seven-piece microphone array it also places Amazon’s smart assistant Alexa at the heart of your home. She can answer your questions, read the news, provide local traffic and weather reports, give information about nearby businesses, update you on sports scores and fixtures, and a whole lot more7 Creative Uses for Amazon Echo and Alexa7 Creative Uses for Amazon Echo and AlexaYou’ve seen the ads starring Alec Baldwin, but you're still not sure what Amazon Echo does or whether you need one in your home. We’re about to find out.Read More.

You know when your phone is on silent and you can’t find it? Annoying, isn’t it? It’ll never happen again thanks to this awesome applet. Just say “Alexa, trigger unsilence phone” and the ringer will be set to 100 percent volume.

Rotten eggs can be dangerous to eat. The risk of contracting salmonella and listeriosis is considerably higher, and they can lead to diarrhea, vomiting, migraines, and skin rashes. None of them sound like something you want to be dealing with on Christmas Day.

The Quirky egg minder connects to your smartphone to track how many eggs you have and when they were put in the fridge.

Fed up of getting home in the dark on a cold winter night? When you turn off your engine in a predefined area close to your home, this applet will automatically turn on your Philips Hue lighting system.

One of the market leaders is Jawbone. Its series of UP fitness bands have been a big seller since the original UP hit the shelves in 2011. They can track your workout, monitor your heart rate, and study your sleep — all with the aim of giving you the necessary data to improve your fitness and health.

A good night’s sleep is one of the most important (and underrated) aspects of fitness and weight loss. It can greatly impact upon your body’s power and motivation. If your Jawbone detects you’ve had a bad night, this app will automatically set your mood to exhausted. After all, you’ll be too tired to do it yourself!

The Parrot Flower Power gadget aims to step in and stop your flower-icide. You put it in the soil alongside your plant and it collects a variety of data, including light, temperature, and soil moisture.

As climate change continues to affect the world’s weather patterns, it’s more important than ever to monitor the weather and be prepared for any strange or unseasonable phenomena.

The Netatmo Weather Station can track almost every environmental condition. Temperature, air pressure, humidity, and even carbon dioxide levels are all covered, though you’ll need to add the Netatmo Rain Gauge to monitor precipitation. Support it with its own catalog of IFTTT applets. We picked just one for you below.

Carbon Dioxide poisoning causes around 500 accidental deaths in the United States every year. The gas has no smell or taste, making it difficult to know when you’re at risk. By turning all your Philips Hue lights red, you’ll be immediately alerted when you’re in danger.

What Gift Would You Like?

I hope I’ve given you some ideas for the IFTTT automation geek in your life this Christmas. Even if you don’t think they’ll like any of these seven suggestions, you should be able to find something. There are hundreds of IFTTT-enabled devices and the number is growing every day.

Are you an IFTTT geek? If so, what would you like Santa to put in your stocking this year? Do our recommendations sound like a perfect present or have you got your eye on something different?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can leave your opinions, ideas, and suggestions in the comments below.

Dan is a British expat living in Mexico. He is currently a Senior Writer and the Affiliate Optimization Manager for MakeUseOf. At various times, he has been the Social Editor, Creative Editor, and Finance Editor. He is also an Editor for MUO's sister site, Blocks Decoded and a Senior Writer for VPN Proof. Prior to his writing career, he was…